Know who isn’t leaving NYC any time soon? These guys! As successful men in their late 30s and early 40s, they might give lip service to wanting to get married and have kids, but sometimes it seems they won’t settle for anyone less than Natalie Portman. Are they just being sensible and cautious — or are these dudes just picky as all get-out? You be the judge.
* David Fisher, 37, owner of a company that manufactures baseball hats
“I once got thisclose to getting married. Because of such serious relationships, I started [dating] later in life, and now I’m set in my ways and don’t want to settle. Still, I just want to be married and have kids but only with the right person. The perfect girl would be Natalie Portman.”
* Gregg Pressman, 39, chiropractor
“I’m just trying to meet somebody with whom I can have as good a relationship as my parents and sister have. The thing is, I’m pretty set in my ways, so this person is going to have to be attractive, there’s going to have to be chemistry, and we need to be on the same page. I was engaged about 2 years ago, and she just didn’t want to move forward; she became someone else after I proposed. So I broke it off.”
* Jason Levine, 40, financial portfolio manager
“I have actually been told by girls who want to set me up that I’d be better off being divorced or having a broken engagement, because then at least it shows I have desire to settle down.”
NY WOMEN LEAVING THE CITY TO FIND LOVE
* Steve Kent, 40, managing partner of a financial/insurance firm
“I’ve almost gotten engaged twice. People say I’m like Jerry Seinfeld; I have a bad habit of finding little things about the other person that bug me . . . My mom is incredulous. She thinks I meet a million great girls and have unrealistic expectations and I should just suck it up; she really finds my inability to settle down shocking. My father says he’s finally determined my problem: He says, ‘Steve, you have major league taste and minor league talent.’ ”
* David Schwartz, 37, television network executive
“I just haven’t found what will one day be the most important relationship in my life, and I see no reason to settle. I plan on getting hitched one day, and when I do, I want it to be stable and secure like my parents’ marriage.”